Mid February

I'm not quite sure how we have already reached the middle of February, but the calendar never lies.  I guess I can start pulling out the greens for St. Patrick's Day now.  

We had such beautiful, warm days last week and we are now under freeze warnings for the next few nights.  Today was spent covering up all of my frost prone plants, and there are quite a few.  The stone fruit are all in full bloom and too big to cover.  The citrus is as well.  We just need a tent to cover the entire yard at this point. lol  I am more than ready to see the arrival of spring.

I have finally finished piecing the Quiltville Mystery Quilt, Chilhowie, for this year.  Between my design trials and mistakes, I think I have sewn every seam at least twice!  It feels really good to have it finished and ready to quilt.

This week the Project Quilting Season 14 prompt was a novel project.   We were to stitch something that reflects a book we have read.  The book I chose was Goodnight Moon which was read over and over and over again to our children and continues to be a favorite of the grandbabies.  The children always enjoy searching for the hidden mouse with each turn of the page as you slowly put each item in the room to sleep.  Goodnight red balloon fabric postcard!

I managed to finish the quilting on my red Kaffe heart quilt in time for Valentine's Day, but I need to find a good binding for it.  I was not pleased with any that I had so it got displayed this year with no binding.  I guess I need to make a trip to the LQS.  That's always a dangerous place to visit.  ;-)  

One of my favorite heart quilts I have made was for our youngest granddaughter.  I think I need to make another one for our house.  Ramona of Doodlebugs and Rosebuds just made this quilt as a baby gift and her version is so sweet.  

We have no big, fancy plans for dinner out tonight.  We've always preferred to fix a nice meal at home.  Two of our sons own restaurants and it is always their busiest night of the year.  I made a nice loaf of heart shaped sourdough bread and a fresh orange cake.  DH is going to BBQ lamb chops and we will both be happier with that than any meal out.  How about you?  Do you dine in or out on Valentine's Day?

Bits and Pieces

The last few weeks have allowed for some fun sewing in between the hectic life schedule.  There have been so many SALs/QALs floating out in blogosphere and it is so easy to get sidetracked.  I’ve joined in on several of them.  

There is the Fat Quarter Shop’s Sewcialites 2.  I’ve managed to keep up with this one, using my bin of solid fabrics.

Then there is Project Quilting Challenge with a new suggestion every other week.  This week our inspiration is 54-40 or Fight.  I’ve always loved this block.  I went with some wild colors and will use the block as a small table topper or a large mug rug.

Over the weekend Ivory Spring had a SAL Crockpot Weekend.  Other than fun recipe links, we created a nice sized small quilt top using HSTs.  I had a stack of green charms and made a table topper for St. Patrick’s Day.

Then there is the Bonnie Hunter Chilhowie Mystery quilt.  I am down to my final borders.  I decided to add some navy stars to mine, but I’m not too sure about the new shape that I created with the sashing.  I hope the borders convince me.

We took off for a little vacation in the Sierras.  The amount of snow they have gotten this year is incredible. The trip up was like driving in a snow tunnel.  The little ones had a blast in the snow.

I'm not sure that I am overly thrilled with Mr. Groundhog's prediction of six more weeks of winter.  How about you?  

Project Quilting 2023

 Kim has kicked off Season 14 of Project Quilting for 2023.  The theme for the first challenge is One.  Thinking along those lines, I came up with FIRST.  There are so many firsts in life, but I went with first signs of spring, which I am eagerly awaiting.  To me, the happy little crocus popping up is always a sign of spring to me.  They pop up right through the snow in some areas.  My simple postcard reflects the yellow crocus in backdrop of ice crystals.  

Pop on over to see what others interpret number ONE means to them.  You can check it out at https://kimlapacek.com/2023/01/14-1-the-first-one-challenge-1-of-project-quilting-season-14.html.  

Virtual Cookie Exchange

Today is Day 3 of the Virtual Cookie Exchange, hosted by Carol at Just Let Me Quilt.  Carol always does such a great job with these blog hops and is so good at keeping us in line and ready.  Thanks, Carol.

 

                                  These are the fabulous maker/bakers you'll meet:

December 5

Creatin' in the Sticks
DesertSky Quilting
Karrin’s Crazy World
Days Filled With Joy
Just Because Quilts
That Fabric Feeling
For The Love Of Geese
Words & Stitches
 
December 6

MooseStashQuilting
Just Sew Quilter
Ms P Designs USA
Beaquilter
Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
Stitchin At Home
 
December 7

Inflorescence
Crazy'boutquilts
Patchouli Moon Studio
Texas Quilt Gal
Pinker n' Punkin Quilting & Stitching
Needled Mom
Quilted Delights
 
December 8

Just Let Me Quilt
Quiltscapes
Songbird Designs
Patchwork Breeze
Quilt Schmilt
Homespun Hannah's Blog
Happy Cottage Quilter

I always enjoy the Virtual Cookie Exchange.  Over the years I have accumulated so many great cookie recipes shared by wonderful bakers.  

We have too many favorite recipes to count, but one that is a constant favorite around here is the Raspberry-Nut cookie.  Not only do they melt in your mouth, but they look so festive too.  It's a recipe that was found in a Sunset Cookies cookbook.

Ingredients:

1 cup softened butter

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/3 cup ground pecans (ground finely in food processor)

2 cups all purpose flour

Powdered sugar

Approx. 1/4 cup raspberry jam

In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and granulated sugar until creamy; beat in vanilla.  Gradually add pecans and flour, blending thoroughly.  Cover and place in refrigerator until firm enough to handle (1-2 hours).  

On a floured board, roll out dough to a 1/8" thickness.  Cut with 2" cookie cutter.  Using a very small cookie cutter, cut out center of half of the cookies.  Bake at 375* for about 12 minutes or until lightly browned.  Transfer to racks and cool.

Sift powdered sugar over cookies with the center hole.  Place small dollop of jam on bottom portion of cookies and top with sugar covered cookies, making a sandwich.  Can be stored in an airtight container.

This is the time of year that I love to decorate our home with Christmas quilts.  Although not quilted yet, this is my latest Christmas quilt.  

A few of my other favorites...

Another fun thing to do with fabric, if you are not a quilter, is to make a festive ornament.  My mother and I taught these in my daughter's 4th grade class, so they are very doable this close to Christmas.  We had so many compliments from the parents on them and thought I would share it here.

What you will need:

3 or 4” styrofoam ball

white Gesso

school glue

ribbon and beaded trim

iridescent glitter

fabric 

 Dilute gesso slightly and paint the styrofoam ball.  Allow to dry.  

Cut out fabric motifs while the ball is drying.  Using white school glue, paint the back of the motifs with the glue and apply to the dry ball.  

Once all the motifs are placed, paint a slightly diluted (with water) glue over the entire ball.  Sprinkle lightly with glitter.  Allow to dry completely.  

Using the ribbon and beaded trim, make a bow and glue to the top of the ball with a ribbon hanger.

Hang on the tree. 

Quiet Time Sewing

 I haven’t been at the sewing machine much the last few weeks due to acquiring a bit of new hardware in this creaky body, but I have had fun catching up on some hand sewing projects.  

First in the queue were a couple quilts that needed the binding stitched down.  I had done the machine sewing in anticipation of my sewing vacation so the hand stitching was left.  Years ago I participated in a New York Beauty sew along.  I can’t remember who sponsored it, but the earliest note I made in my blog was in 2012.  Well…..ten years later it is now in the finished pile and I love it.  I am not a professional quilter, but Karrie at @karrie_ann_longarm_quilting on IG is, and she did an incredible job on it for me.

 After that it was time to tackle the points on my Kaffe Escher Cubed quilt.  The pattern had called for cutting them off, but I thought it would be fun to leave the points if I could figure out the binding of the angles.  I really like the way it turned out too. 

And lastly  I finished the Christmas stocking for the newest granddaughter.  I have made the felt stockings for each of the children in my daughter's family and love seeing them all hung at Christmas.  Ramona also makes them for her grandchildren and has a nice way of finishing hers off.  She was kind enough to give me her hints in completing this one.  I have always lined mine, but she makes a lovely quilted backing stocking for hers.  The stockings are Bucilla kits with all of the needed parts to complete the stocking - beads, sequins, threads and felt.  They are really quite fun to sew and they have such great detail.

These are the stockings for the rest of the children. 

Next week I will be participating in the Cookie Exchange Blog Hop so please be sure to pop back then.  It's always a fun event with some great recipes over the years.  

October Happenings

 October has arrived and fall is definitely in the air for us.  We've had cooler days and a few chilly nights.  The colors that we do get are making grand appearances with the changing season.  We've managed to escape - so far - the terrible Santa Ana winds that are so common in October.  I won't complain about that.  We've even had a few rain showers, one including a thunderstorm this month.  I hope this is a sign of more moisture for us this year.

I've managed to get some sewing in this month.  Connie from Freemotion by the River  had a cute tutorial for pumpkin mug rugs on her blog.  I had to dig into my oranges and make a few for friends with October birthdays.  The orange ones were so cute so I made a blue one too.  They went up so quickly and look so festive.  

One of the younger granddaughters has been over for a bit of sewing.  She's doing such a great job as she works on some Log Cabin blocks.  Her 1/4" seams are great.  We are working hard at sorting lights and darks, but I think she will be pleased with her finish. 

I resurrected my Small World quilt last week while searching for something else and managed to complete section 3.  I'm looking forward to section 4 next. 

I also decided to join in on Sewcialites 2 this time around.  It just started last Friday so it's not too late to join in if you are interested.  This is my first block.  

We have lots of October birthdays in our family, but our daughter celebrated a special one this month.  Her husband arranged a surprise party for the family at our home with two private chefs.  The food was absolutely amazing, all five courses.  Their two oldest children assisted and served us.  It was indeed a special event. 

In the garden, the pomegranates are bigger and better than ever.  Our tree has been loaded and we can't give them away fast enough.  One can only use so many!

Now that the weather is cooler, I've encouraged my daughter and granddaughters to start on a sourdough journey.  We've had so much fun sharing photos of our loaves among the group each month.  They are all making amazing loaves with nice rises and great crumb. 

It's hard to believe that we are nearing the busy holiday season.  I'm sure everyone is ready by now....right?  How many days do we have left?